Variety Description

Variety used for comparison: 'USCALI17' (Superbells Cherry Red)

Summary: 'Cal Bulrose' is a calibrachoa variety which has thicker shoots than 'USCALI17'. The flowers of 'Cal Bulrose' have moderate to strong lobing of the corolla, whereas 'USCALI17' has weak lobing. 'Cal Bulrose' has more conspicuous veins on the upper side of the corolla lobes and more undulating margins of the corolla than the reference variety.

Origin & Breeding History: 'Cal Bulrose' was developed by the breeder, an employee of Goldsmith Seeds, California, U.S.A., as part of a planned pedigree breeding program. The new variety originated from the cross made between the female parent '672-1', a proprietary line with blue coloured flowers, and the male parent '646-1', a proprietary line with red coloured flowers. The resultant seed was sown and in 2003 a single plant was selected by the breeder based on flower colour and plant habit.

Tests & Trials: The tests and trials for 'Cal Bulrose' were conducted in a polyhouse during the summer of 2006 in St. Thomas, Ontario. The trial included a total of 20 plants of each of the candidate and reference varieties. All plants were grown from rooted cuttings and transplanted into 25 cm baskets on April 20, 2006. Each basket contained 3 cuttings with a total of 7 baskets per variety. Observations and measurements were taken from 10 plants of each variety on July 5, 2006. All colour measurements were made using the RHS Colour Chart 2001.